Safety support for brake rods



Aug. 27, 1935. I G. H. FAHRENBRUCH 2,012,870

SAFETY SUPPORT FOR, BRAKE RODS Filed June 5, 1954 Patented Aug. 27, 1935 V i l 2 012 70. H.) .I I 1 SAFETY SUPPORT FOR. BRAKEBODS "George H; Fahrenbruch, ShefidangWyo.

., Application June 5,. 1934, Serial No. 729,153.

4 Claims. (Cl.'188+210) Y My inventionrelatestonew and useiulimproveel of the supporting. s'trapswor arms against. the ments in safety supports for brake rods, that. is, aa flanges. of the spring plank; support for what is knownas the bottom .rod 1 Fig. eais amenlargedxdetail section of Fig. 4; which connects the two brake levers and brake I V Fig. 5 is a. cross-sectional view similartoFig. 2, 5 mechanism of a car truck. showing ajfurther modification of thesupporting 5 It frequently happensthat either the brake rod straps; becomes damaged or the pivots drop out between Fig; 5a. isa detail of the link of Fig. '5. the bottom rod and the. brakelevers, allowing Referring to thedrawing, and for the moment the rod..or levers to fall upon the track and causei to Fig. 1, there may be seen-Ja fragmentary 'por-, an accident to the train or otherwise damage the. tion of a spring plank I, of a car truck (not. 10 brake mechanism. a shown);thebrake levers land 3, and the brake One of the importantobjects. of the present int rodjA', whichlconnects the, respective levers 2 and vention, therefore, is to provide exceedingly sime 3. nAlso in this view. there may be seen the imple means that willsupport thebrake rod, that is, proved safety Support which is here shown for the 3' should it become damaged, and thus prevent the purpose'of its location with regard to the spring rod orother mechanisms from dropping downand plank l and the brake rod 4. g l r coming into contact with the railroad ties when Referring now more particularly topthe support, thecar isin motion. Y J there-maybe seen in Fig.. 2 the improved sup-..

Another object of the invention" is. to provide port hi h consistsprimarily of what I termthe 20. as e ye ppo that w l be extremely ap t side arms? or fstrapsi 5 and e, and a description manufactu e a d in its preferred-formw be of the one is a. description of the other; .It will, so constructed that the side arms of the device be s t t t arm is th t, ,1; d may be pulled up tightly tov thus more rigidly l as t, a, t ti htly hug the flange 9 of clamp the support to the truck or more particuthe springplank t flj j b ti d th t larly What is known as the Spring the arm' 6 extends downwardly .and is slightly 25.

Still. another object of the invention is to D otwisted, turned, as 3; I L and is provided near vide asafety support thatmay be easily forged itslower endwith amopenmg z readily formed from strap iron or b Extending between thesetwo arms 5 and 6 may to thuskeep down the 'wstlof manufacturebe seeri the lower-supporting 'rodl3,which pref:

still another-ch38 of the invention is erably-has the eye M,:while the other end of the 301 Vide a safety Support that is readily, and easily rodis'screw-threaddjas at t5, and will be passed attached to the spring plank, there being no holes through the Opening '2 afterwhich the maiden, to be t or rivets to believe, the P T nut IE will be threaded in position until the two m bemg hung on h Sprmg plank Whlle m arms 5 and Bare forced tightly toward each oththe preferred l f slde arms of h Support er. After this, a lock nut I! may be placed against 5 are capable of being ad usted to more tightly hold the m an den nut t0 ri g1 dly h 01 d the parts in p0si the support in position. t tion 7 With these and other objects in view he inn 1n F1 1, instead of clam mg vention consists in certain new and novel arrangeg; 2 3 8 22 5 and directly Opposite g 40 ments and combination of parts, as will be herein- 40 1 a other they are spaced slightly diagonally, so i f ggg fully descnbud and pomted m that the brake rod 4 in extending above the rod I teferrin g now to the drawing showing a preof support 1 pass along one edge of h ferred embodiment with several slight modificaarm 5 and the Opposlte edge of the arm In thls moms manner, the arms, even though loosely clamped on the spring plank, will be more or less prevent Fig. l is a plan view of a portion of the spring plank of a truck for freight cars and the brake rod in relation thereto, and showing the safety support for the brake rod;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

ed by the brake rod from shifting from their relative diagonal positions. p

In FigsA and 4a, I have shown the supporting rod l3a having a slot I8 formed therein (see Fig. 50 4a), and fitting within this slot is a wedge key [9 Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of one of the Which, When driven in the Slot, Will e d to force supporting arms or straps; the one arm 6a toward the other arm (not Fig, 4 is a fragmentary detail view of a slightly shown), as will be readily understood. 'I 'he lower W modified form for adjusting the clamping action end of the wedge key, after being driven into place, may be bent slightly, as at 20, to prevent its working loose or becoming 10st.

Thus, it will be seen thateither a slot and a wedge-shaped key may be used, or the supporting rod may be threaded and nuts used to hold it in position. By twisting or offsetting the arms 5 and 6 at the points I l it will be understood that these arms may be set in slight diagonal relationship and, at the same time, the'lower ends of the arms with theopenings therein, through which the lower rod passes will bein, parallel relation-g ship.

From the above description, it will be seen that the safety support isi'one that maybe at tached and wherein the side arm's or straps may be pulled toward each other, so that the support will be tightly gripped on the flanges'of the spring plank. Witha supportg-ofthis kind; should the pins or bolts drop from the brake rod} or brake levers and the rod tendto drop,'the' brake rod will be prevented from 'falling'below' thelower rod to thus keep the rod orlevers from. tearing into the ties and otherwise damage the brake mechanism.

Referring now to the slightflmodification in Fig. 5, there is fragmentarily shown the spring plank Ia, and in this instance, instead of having the rigid side arms, thereis .providedthehook 2| which has the eye 22::in which willbe fitted a.- 1 link 23. Through the bottom eye 24 of this link may be passed what I term the lower rod 25 which, in turn, will have an eye 26 fitting within theeye 24. Of course, there will be the .oppositely disposed hook 21 with its lirik 28 andwhich; will engage the eye 29 of the lower rod 25; In

this form, there is no means shown for pulling the links Hand 28 toward'each other, butthere is a flexibility in this supportiwhich makes it unnecessary to provide a separate locking means.

Although I have not illustratedit, in the same way the brakerod will pass .to one sideiof'one link and on the opposite side of the other link, similar to the preferred form, .'and..thus; the brake. rod.

willprevent any shifting of. the support.

In both instances, it willbe seen that I have a lower rod that is supported by brackets that, are, in turn, hung from. thespring plank and'which supports may beformed of commercial .stock.

Likewise, in this.instanceynospecial holes have to be drilled or no rivetssecured in the truck,[so,

attached or just.

that the support may be, readily as quickly detached 1 Many slight changes are possible in the construction hereinbefore set forth without in any manner departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a safety support for brake rods, in combination with a car truck having a spring plank,

' two strap arms having downturned upper ends to engage the'flanges of the spring plank and the saidstrap arms disposedindiagonal relation to each other, a bar; passing through .both of said strap arms adapted to support the brake rod if the same should drop, and means on the said bar for forcing the lower ends of the strap arms toward each other to thereby morerigidly hold the strap arms on said spring plank.

A 2. In a safety support for brake rods and the like, :two strap arms having their upper ends turned downwardly to form hooks adapted to engage" the flanges of a spring plank, said arms being diagonally disposed and slightly twisted so that-thelower'ends of the armsare in parallel relation with each other, a bar extending between the twolsidearms, means on the bar forforcing the lower ends of the arms toward each other to :thereby more rigidly hold the support on the springplankjt 3. A safetysupport for brake rods adapted to be hung from the spring plank of a truck including two side arms having downbent upper ends to form hooks, the side arms being twisted slightly-midwaytheir length and the said arms provided with openings in their lower ends to receive a bar, a cross-bar having an eye at one end fitting within the opening of one'of said arms, and means on the othe'r'end'of said bar for-forcing the lower ends ofthearms toward each other to thereby more rigidly clamp the supporting device on the spring plank. 0

4..In a safety support for brake rods and the like, two arm s 'having their upper ends turned GEORGE H. FAHRENBRUCH 

